As a marketing guy, and as a consumer, I keep an eye on what is fed to us by the press, by advertisers, by the government, and by others. Sometimes it is humorous, harmless, and just plain ridiculous. Sometimes, not so much.

——–

“JUST ADD PROCESSING AND HANDLING”

Have you been seeing this one on the TV ads? I get a real charge out of this one!

“But Wait, There’s More! We’ll even include a 2nd one free, JUST ADD PROCESSING AND HANDLING”

What a crock!

How much more does it cost them to pick two plastic phone screen protectors off the shelf than one?

How much more does it cost them to pick two Ginsu knives off the shelf than one?

And they add on just as much price for the ‘processing and handling’ as if you bought a second product.

Nobody’s getting anything for free, folks. But they would sure like you to think so!

As a marketing guy, and as a consumer, I keep an eye on what is fed to us by the press, by advertisers, by the government, and by others. Sometimes it is humorous, harmless, and just plain ridiculous. Sometimes, not so much.

——–

Here’s a food term that food companies are flat out lying to us about and is another example of our illustrious government letting us down:

Natural.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) refuses to officially define ‘natural’ for some reason. (Laziness or corruption come to mind as typical reasons for government inaction).

So they are letting the food manufacturers run rampant with this term. And the food companies are having a hey day fooling consumers into believing their manipulated products are natural products.

Here is one example. More to come. Stay alert, consumer!

7UP

This one isn’t horrible, but you still need to be alert so you don’t believe 7UP is 100% natural.

A little while back, they were calling 7UP ‘All Natural’ but fortunately a private class-action lawsuit got them to change their wording to the following:

“The crisp, clean taste of 7UP delivers more of the natural lemon-lime flavor you love. With no caffeine and 100% natural flavors, 7UP is always refreshing.”

Now take a look at their ingredient list. You tell me if their flavors are 100% natural. (For instance, would it taste the same without the high fructose corn syrup?) (And believe me, plenty of food companies have been trying to call that ‘natural’ too.)

As a marketing guy, and as a consumer, I keep an eye on what is fed to us by the press, by advertisers, by the government, and by others. Sometimes it is humorous, harmless, and just plain ridiculous. Sometimes, not so much.

——–

Here’s a phrase that reporters are fond of using that I always just shake my head at, “[some occurrence] that has consumed the world”

The following event, unfortunately, is tragic. But a particular report is what I want to challenge. It tells us that the event has ‘consumed the world':

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The missing Malaysia Airlines plane crashed into a remote corner of the Indian Ocean, the nation’s prime minister said Monday night, citing a new analysis of satellite data. The statement was the first major step toward resolving a 2-week-old mystery that has consumed the world. ( http://www.startribune.com/world/251841771.html )

(Bold and italics are mine)

How do those reporters know that this event has consumed the world? I don’t know about you, but it did not consume me. Yes, I feel for the families involved, and I took a passing interest in it, but it did not consume me. And I doubt that it consumed the families starving in Africa, or the homeless in Detroit.

Yes, I know they want to make their writing interesting, but this is just one of their tricks that bugs the heck out of me. And if you believe it consumed the world, what little white lie, bit of propaganda, or fabrication will you believe next time?

Maybe it will be the word ‘Natural’ that food companies are playing fast and loose with. That’s my next topic coming soon…

You need to get a control: an ad, a sales letter, a postcard, whatever; that
works for you reliably that is acceptable to you that you can use for long
period of time. Then you test one variable at a time to try to improve its
performance. If you change more than one thing, you don’t know what worked and
what didn’t.

The reason very few people do this is because they’re not aware of it, or it’s too painful. But if you are concerned with maximum profit then you must do it.